Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
People living in a small Arizona town about 20 miles north of the Mexico border are growing increasingly angry about the presence of the Border Patrol.
The Associated Press reports that resident of Arivaca are protesting a checkpoint where they say residents’ rights are being violated.
Residents also are monitoring interactions between agents and drivers.
“We’re just standing here for our rights as citizens,” said Carlota Wray, a decades-long Arivaca resident and U.S. citizen who said she’s been harassed by agents several times.
“It has a bad impact on our little town. And it’s a good town.”
The agency defended the checkpoints as important safeguards.
“These checkpoints are critical to our patrol efforts for they deny major routes of egress from the border region to smugglers intent on delivering people, drugs, and other contraband into the interior of the United States. The Border Patrol carefully selects checkpoint locations to maximize border enforcement and continuously evaluates our operations to ensure they are effective and do not pose undo impact to law abiding citizens,” spokesman Andy Adame said.
